In the past decade, cupcakes have been elevated from trend to tradition, so totally pervasive in American culinary culture that virtually every neighborhood in the nation boasts a crowded cupcake shop. Bookstore cookbook sections are packed with cupcake titles. Television shows dedicated to cupcake competitions draw hundreds of thousands of viewers. And home kitchens across the continent are basking in the aroma of freshly baked cupcakes.

In June, we asked readers to submit their original cupcake designs for the first Denver Post Cupcake Contest — to be judged purely on looks, not taste. We received an overwhelming number of entries. Some were beautiful, some were charming, some were just plain cute. Many readers thanked us for running the contest, as it had given their family a fun project to work on together.

Denver Post Cupcake Contest

We chose our winners based on the creativity and craftiness that went into their work, the cleverness of the design, and the overall charm of their cupcakes. After all the cupcakes were viewed, reviewed, contemplated and considered, these three winning cupcakes rose above the rest of the batch.

"Mr. Panda"

Kelsey Burgy, 21, Parker

Kelsey Burgy, 21, credits her stint at Sichuan University in China with the inspiration for her design. "I visited a panda research and breeding facility," the Parker resident says. "I've loved them ever since. They are so cute and nonchalant. And every panda is so different."

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Burgy's design, made with pretzels, gum paste, store-bought frosting and edible paint, drew on expertise close to home. "My sister is an artist, and she taught me how to mix colors," she says. "My mom taught me to be patient, and to wait for the cupcakes to cool before decorating." (Decorating hot cupcakes, she warns, is a recipe for disaster. Let them cool at least half a day.) Burgy, a senior at Abilene Christian University, is spending the summer teaching preschool at Southeast Christian Preschool.

"Cake: The Final Frontier" by Emma Thompson of Denver.

Six of her students voted on the cupcake's name, "Mr. Panda," after rejecting several other titles. "Now, they really just want to eat it," she says.

"Cake: The Final Frontier"

Emma Thompson, 15, Denver

"I'm a science and math geek," says Emma Thompson, 15. "I'm into 'Star Wars.' So this is the first design I thought of." Emma's cake, which incorporates several rolled-fondant cupcake planets attached with spaghetti to a fondant-covered cupcake "sun," offered two unique challenges. First, the cake had to be strong. "We tried a standard cake mix but it didn't hold up. So we experimented until we found a denser cupcake," says Emma (sister of Lydia, below). The second challenge was to find icing strong enough to hold up the spaghetti-suspended planets. "The planets were top-heavy." Her secret? Meringue powder.

Emma Thompson created "Cake: The Final Frontier." (THE DENVER POST | CYRUS MCCRIMMON)

"Jackson Pollock"

Lydia Thompson, 11, Denver

"I like the splattered-paint look," of Jackson Pollock's art, says 11-year-old Lydia Thompson (sister of Emma, above) of her miniature depicting Pollock at work. Lydia spent hours perfecting her design. "One hard part was getting the canvas to stay up," says Lydia. "I used rolled fondant folded over onto itself." To help it stick, a little vegetable oil. And for the paint colors? Decorating gels. Lydia's not sure if there's a baking career in her future, but she's already mastered cherry chocolate scones — and artist-inspired cupcakes.

"Jackson Pollack" by Lydia Thompson of Denver. ( | )

Who knew Colorado was so full of creative cupcake makers? We received many more entries for our cupcake contest than we are able to show here, but these are a few of our favorite runners-up*. See more online at denverpost.com/food

*Note: Our rules were strict. No professional bakers or cooks were eligible. All designs had to be original. And entry photos had to be under 100K resolution. Many of our favorite entries were disqualified from the competition for these reasons.

Not all kids who play baseball are uniformed with fancy script across their chests, traveling to $1,000 instructional camps and drilled how to properly hit the cut-off man. Some kids just play to play.